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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27455020">What's your Poison?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SasakiZero/pseuds/SasakiZero'>SasakiZero</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword &amp; Shield | Pokemon Sword &amp; Shield Versions</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, Friends to Lovers, Masaru | Victor and Yuuri | Gloria are Twins, Sibling Love, Slow Burn, in this house we do not ship 12-year-olds</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 16:49:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>19,040</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27455020</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SasakiZero/pseuds/SasakiZero</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>On the night before the opening ceremony for the gym challenge, Marnie meets Victor, Gloria and Hop. As she grows stronger on her journey to become the champion, her friendship and rivalries grow with her. </p><p>Victor is charming and attractive and absolutely not a distraction to her. She could never have a better rival but the more she gets to know him the more layers begin to peel away. Is Victor who he portrays himself to be? Does it matter if she can't bring herself to set a safe distance between them?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hop/Yuuri | Gloria, Mary | Marnie/Masaru | Victor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>64</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The only word that could sum up Victor’s present state was confused. He’d never checked in to a hotel before, but he assumed that upon doing so you usually aren’t challenged to a battle by wannabe punks. They weren’t particularly tough, and his Bulbasaur was able to make short work of them even if Victor himself wasn’t really focused on the battle. He just stared at their outfits, their banners and their constant yelling for their Pokémon with a mystified stare. Once Victor had put them in their place, they didn’t slump off like he expected. They simply skipped over to another part of the hotel to resume their inane cheering.</p><p> “They’re really weird right? Tell me its not just me.” Victor motioned to the punks who were still assaulting the senses of everyone in the hotel.</p><p>“I dunno,” Hop replied, his stare just as perplexed as Victors had been since the punks had shown up. “I guess some people are just really energetic fans?”</p><p>“You’re a really energetic fan, Hop. There’s no one who gets more excited watching one of Leon’s matches than you do. What they’re doing takes the cake.”</p><p>“I guess. I heard they’ve been annoying gym challengers since they started arriving in Motostoke. It’s cool that someone’s got such a passionate fanbase already, but they shouldn’t be bothering other challengers.” Hop and Victor had started to raise their voices just so they could hear each other over the increasing volume of the chanting a floor below. They had been shouting one name for about 15 minutes, cheering for some Marnie, and so far had not seemed to run out of oxygen. Victor sighed as he stood. He and Hop wandered over to the balcony that allowed a good view of the entrance, allowing them to see the person who had inflicted this torture on them. It was not what Victor was expecting.</p><p>Talking to the wannabe punks in hushed tones was a girl. A girl with black hair and a pink dress. She had a black leather jacket flung over her shoulder and was poking the finger of her other hand at the face of one of her fans. Victor observes the fluidity of her movements, the curve of her hips. He’s enraptured by the fierceness of her stare, hidden by the soft façade of her features.</p><p>“I told you guys to stop causing trouble. Now go back to Piers and tell him I don’t want you guys following me about anymore. You’re just annoying the other gym challengers.”</p><p>“But Marnie, we’re gonna cheer for you all the way to the end. We’re gonna make sure you become the champion.”</p><p>“I’m plen’y strong enough to become the champion on my own. I don’t need my brother or his lackeys to help me get there.” Marnie let out a loud sigh and lowered her voice so that only the punks could hear her. “Look, the people here just want to relax before the opening ceremony tomorrow and you’re stressing them all out. I’m thankful you guys want to support me but please don’t bother other people.”</p><p>Marnie deflated as her fans finally relented and left the hotel. She looked around and saw she had attracted quite the crowd of eavesdroppers.</p><p>“I’m sorry if they caused you any trouble.” Marnie bowed in apology to the nearest group. “They’re just overeager is all.”</p><p>“Don’t worry about it.” A boy with brown hair responds with a laugh. “You might want to apologise to the white-haired guy though. Your friends kind of forced him into a battle when he tried to check in.”</p><p>Marnie sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time that night. If her fans were bothering elderly challengers, she didn’t know how she was going to live it down. As people dispersed from the lobby she glanced around. Standing atop the stairs is definitely not an elderly challenger. It’s a boy her age, tall and slim with bleached white hair. When their eyes meet, he smiles, a disarming smile meant to make him seem approachable. It absolutely does not affect her in any way, and she climbs the few steps to begin her grovelling.</p><p>“Hey.” The boy drawls out before Marnie can unleash a stream of apologies. His smile has shifted from disarming to cheeky and his stare ignores everyone else in the room. She dislikes the warmth building in her chest and pushes it down as she hardens her stare.</p><p>“Hi.” She starts, short and cold. “I’m sorry ‘bout them. They’re just a bunch of my fans. Call themselves Team Yell and follow me around, cheerin’ for me. I hope they didn’t bother you too much.”</p><p>“Don’t worry about it,” his response is casual and his smile switches again. This time its more innocent and suddenly he’s cute. Too cute. “They seemed like they were botherin’ you as well. I’m sorry you have to deal with that.”</p><p>“It’s fine. I’m used to it and I know they mean well.”</p><p>“Still. It must be tough.” Victor cocks his head to the side and makes sure his smile has gone. The girl looks at him and he sees a sadness behind the emerald shimmer of her eyes. She’s burdened by something invisible. He can see it in the way that she stands. It’s the same burden he sees Hop carrying when he thinks nobody is watching.</p><p>“So you’re a gym challenger too?” Victor is broken from his musings by Hop’s response. His interest in this girl had absorbed him into neglecting his surroundings. From the girl’s jolt, she clearly hadn’t noticed Hop’s presence at all. “I’m Hop. Dye job here is Victor. We’re taking the gym challenge too, us and Vic’s sister, Gloria. Gotta say, it’s pretty impressive that you already have a set of fans to call your own.”</p><p>Hop is rambling. Someone less perceptive would assume it was from nerves, but Victor knows better. Hop’s greatest trait is his compassion and he gives it freely, to anyone who needs it. It’s so second nature Victor doubts he even realises the warming effect he has on people. Victor isn’t like that at all but the way this girl smiles at Hop’s overwhelming friendliness makes him want to be.</p><p>“You’re Marnie, right?” Victor cuts in.</p><p>“Yeah,” Marnie paused, scrutinising Victor. “How’d you know that?”</p><p>“Your fans were chanting it for ages. I’m pretty sure I’ll be hearing it in my sleep tonight.”</p><p>Marnie felt the blush spread to her cheeks as she stared wide eyed at him. He looked at her confused, clearly not expecting her response. She waits a beat and then sees the realisation hit him like a thunderbolt. He blushes too but then he laughs. It’s real yet she wishes it was fake.</p><p>“We were gonna hang out in the lobby whilst we waited for my sister. Wanna join?”</p><p>Marnie won’t let herself say no.</p><p>They sit in the lobby for almost an hour with no sign of Gloria. Victor would usually find the small talk insufferable but he’s too enraptured by Marnie to pay attention to the details of the conversation. Only Hop’s expertise in making the most mundane of conversations entertaining saves him from being caught in his staring. Eventually, the pink haired annoyance he called a sister arrived at the hotel, her Sobble waddling behind her.</p><p>“I apologise profusely for whatever these two idiots have said whilst I wasn’t here. Especially around a pretty girl.”</p><p>Hop laughs it off and lightly punches Gloria in the arm causing her to stick her tongue out. But as soon as she hears ‘pretty’ Marnie finds herself looking to Victor for a reaction. She doesn’t know what she wants but she knows its not what she gets. His reaction is muted, with a simple eye roll directed at his sister. But then those eyes are laid on her and they both still. The sheer blueness of his eyes hadn’t been noticeable before but now that was all she saw. She felt herself drowning in them and when Gloria threw her a life raft she didn’t want to take it.</p><p>“So how did you meet my annoying brother and best friend, Marn?”</p><p>“They’re not <em>that</em> annoying.” Marnie joked, emboldened by Gloria’s familiarity. “We actually met because I wanted to apolo…”</p><p>“She’s my rival.” Victor cut in, throwing Marnie a look that said <em>go with it</em>.</p><p>“What? How? When?” Gloria stared between the three other members of the group. Hop looked as confused as Marnie felt, he just mumbled about not knowing either. Victor leaned back into his chair, a smug grin on his face.</p><p>“The league thought that the trainers endorsed by the champion should have official rivals. They knew that you and Hop were each other’s ‘greatest rivals’ cos you haven’t shut up about it since childhood and Hop put it in his league card description with the subtlety that only he can manage. So, they assigned me a rival of equal skill. It’s no biggie.”</p><p>Gloria looked from the casual smugness of Victor’s face to the confusion of Marnie’s. The disparity between the two easily clued her in to the ruse.</p><p>“Oh, I see. You were jealous, huh, Vic?”</p><p>“Jealous?” Victor spurted out as he lunged forward. “Of what?”</p><p>“Of mine and Hop’s rivalry. So you roped poor Marnie into being your rival. I bet you didn’t even ask her.”</p><p>“He didn’t, actually.” Marnie cut in. She didn’t know why but she enjoyed watching Victor’s ruined composure.</p><p>“Ha, I knew it. You know you can just ask people to be your friend right? You don’t have to always trick and manipulate people into doing your bidding.”</p><p>Victor’s response was to stand up and march over to the elevator as his sister laughed.</p><p>“Whatever.” He muttered to himself as he pushed the button to call for it. He was pouting now and Marnie found it impossible not to smile.</p><p>“Hey Victor!” She found herself shouting across the lobby before her brain could process it. She’d never given much thought to having a rival. The thought of battling Victor, traveling with him and competing together. She wondered how those eyes would look when he was backed into a corner. What smile he’d use when he won and what smile there would be when she wiped the floor with him. “I’d wish you luck in the gym challenge, but I’m afraid I’m goin’ to be the one to win. Rival.”</p><p>The elevator door opened but Victor just stood there. He stared at Marnie with a wide-eyed stare and a foolish smile. Oh Arceus, she saved that look to memory far too quickly.</p><p>“You have no idea what you’re in for, rival!”</p><p>Neither did he.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You guys are adorable.”</p><p>Hop and Gloria flinched and proceeded to jump away from their previous position. They had been bunched close together, Rotom phone floating in front of them, as they tried to get a selfie with Hammerlocke vault in the background. They must have been at it for close to twenty minutes before Victor had said anything. The four of them had decided to visit a café in Hammerlocke after they had all gotten their Fairy badge. Victor was sat across from Marnie, who was feeding her Morpeko, whilst Hop and Gloria had stood up to take what she had declared would be the ‘most perfect picture’.</p><p>“We are not adorable.” Gloria fumed at her brother. Hop’s eyes refused to meet anyone else’s.</p><p>“Come on V, you shouldn’t tease your sister and her boyfriend. Especially since you’re perpetually single.” Marnie responded, not looking up from feeding Morpeko as it snatched the food in its Hangry mode.</p><p>“B-Boyfriend?” Hop flushed red and began shaking his hands frantically in front of him. “I’m not her boyfriend. Right, Glo? I mean, of course not cos I’d know if I was. Right?”</p><p>Victor watched as Hop glanced between Gloria and the café table, growing increasingly more tomato like. The laughter escaped before he could hold it back until he was soon wiping away tears. Watching this, Marnie allowed for a small smile and a few chuckles to escape.</p><p>“I hate you both.” Gloria deadpanned and marched off in direction of the train station.</p><p>“I’m sorry Gloria! We were just taking the mic, I’m sorry!” Marnie shouted as she gathered her bag from the table. She paused next to Victor as she passed his chair. “V, I’ll totally pay you back but do you think this time you could…”</p><p>“Of course I’ll pay Marn. Just make sure my sister doesn’t blow a gasket on some innocent trainer, yeah?” He threw his head to the side and flashed a grin at Marnie. She felt her face heat up under his cerulean gaze so she quickly dashed off without responding.</p><p>Victor turned in his chair to stare after her. He saw her catch up with Gloria and laughed at how unimpressed her face looked at Marnie’s apology.</p><p>“You always leave Marnie to do the apologising for you, don’t you Vic.” Hop sat down to finish the coffee he’d ordered. He recoiled at how cold it had gotten after the twenty-minute selfie bombardment Gloria had pushed him into.</p><p>“You’ve seen Marnie, right? Gloria can’t not forgive that face and then she’ll forgive me by association, and I don’t have to risk being yelled at by my sister. All I have to do is pick up the bill. It’s fool proof.”</p><p>“Or you could not wind her up in the first place? Then you could save a lot of money.”</p><p>“But that’s no fun. If you guys stopped doing couple stuff then me and Marn wouldn’t make fun of you for it. Plus, you get so bloody red it’s hilarious.” Victor chuckled as he took a bite out of his scone.</p><p>“We don’t do couple stuff. We do best friend stuff. It’s different.” Hop ignored Victor’s comment about his rosy complexion.</p><p>“Oh okay, do you wanna take a selfie cheek to cheek with me too, Hop? We’ve been friends just as long and we haven’t done that yet.”</p><p>“You know it’s different.” Hop scoffs.</p><p>“Well then how about we have a prolonged romantic hug in Stow-on-Side? I’m starting to think I’m missing out on this best friend stuff.” Victor scrutinised Hop over the rim of his tea cup. He wondered if today would be the day Hop would crack and admit his feelings. All he saw was compassion from Hop as he stared back.</p><p>“I can give you a hug if you need one, Vic? That’s what friends do right?”</p><p>And just like that Victor’s trap was sprung and turned against him. He couldn’t continue poking Hop when their friendship was thrown at him. He knew Hop was having a hard time ever since he had lost to Bede. He’d assumed that his joking would have the side effect of cheering Hop up like it usually did but it probably wasn’t all that helpful. Gloria knew that Hop just needed his friends and he ruined their reunion by joking about their friendship. For the third time. That month.</p><p>“Of course they do, mate. I’m sorry if I was being a bit of a twat.”</p><p>“What’s new there?” It was Hop’s turn to laugh now and Victor could only chuckle with him as he finished the rest of his scone. “We know you do it out of love, no worries mate.”</p><p>Victor paid their bill and he and Hop spent the next few minutes catching each other up on their journeys since they last saw each other. Hop talked about how he struggled to get the Fairy badge whereas Victor just released his newly evolved Gengar and declared it a ‘piece of cake’.</p><p>“Woah, V, your Haunter evolved? When?”</p><p>The two were pulled out of their conversation by Marnie and Gloria’s return. Gloria was pouting whilst Marnie squatted down to greet Gengar. Victor ignored his sister and turned to watch Marnie. Marnie’s smiles were getting more frequent recently. The more she hung out with them and the less she was followed by her crazy Team Yell fans, the more vocal she had become as well.</p><p>He watched as she was smiling now when she petted Gengar’s head. It wasn’t the beaming smile of Hop or the mischievous smile of Gloria but more of a strained, sincere smile. A smile from someone who seemed like they hadn’t much cause to do it all that often. Victor thought it was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.</p><p>“Erm, he evolved in Glimwood Tangle. Just in time to wipe out Opal single handed.” He responded as he met the eyes of his still pouting sister. “Are you still mad, Glory?”</p><p>“Marnie said that you wanted to apologise to me too.” Gloria let slip a little smile as she slunk down into the chair next to Hop before returning to her act of a gravely wronged sister.</p><p>“Oh. Marnie said that did she?” Victor shifted his gaze back to Marnie who had taken the seat next to him at the table.</p><p>“I was sure that you wanted to apologise to your sister yourself, right? You wouldn’t want little old me to do all your apologising would you, hmm?” Marnie put on the best puppy dog face she could muster as she stared at Victor and tried to ignore those blue eyes that pierced into her accusingly. “You wouldn’t use me as a go between and think you could get away with it by paying for a few coffee trips, would you?”</p><p>Victor swung his head round to stare open mouthed at Hop, who was suddenly far too invested in whatever was happening on his phone.</p><p>“You traitor!” Victor spurted out. “You texted them my fool proof plan, didn’t you?”</p><p>Hop continued to ignore him as Marnie punched him in the arm.</p><p>“Ow.”</p><p>“I can’t believe you’ve been doing that. And here I was thinking you were dead chivalrous paying for all the times when we went.” Marnie huffed and rotated her head quickly away from Victor’s eyeline. Out of the corner of his eye, Victor noticed the devilish smirk on Gloria. She and Hop had actually managed to get back at him for once. He knew his sister was devious but he thought she had been too flustered by his teasing to have come up with a revenge plan this quickly. He had underestimated Hop as well. That traitor had sent her all the ammunition she had needed. The only way out of this was to grovel or turn on his charms. And Victor would never give his sister the satisfaction of grovelling.</p><p>“Come on, M. Look at me.” Victor pinched Marnie’s chin between his thumb and index finger and gently moved her head so they were almost nose to nose. He knew that if he used the first letter of her name like she did for him and put on his smoothest smile he could get out of this dignity intact. “I’m sorry about tricking you. It’s just, you’re so charming I knew Glory would forgive you over me.”</p><p>“It’s f-fine.” Marnie gulped, her cheeks mimicking the same pink as her dress. She’d forgotten what she was mad about. She’d forgotten there were other people at the table. She felt hot as Victor moved his hand from her chin to place a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She lost herself in those deep blue eyes again and the perfect way his loose white hair framed his face.</p><p>“Are you sure, M?” There it was again. That god damn nickname he said so endearingly. He knew that she called him V because everyone else already had nicknames for him and she wanted hers to be different. To be memorable. So that she was memorable.</p><p>“Uh huh.” She barely managed to get out as she nodded gormlessly.</p><p>“No, she’s absolutely not sure!” Gloria slammed her hands on the table and broke Marnie out of her trance. A couple of other tables let out gasps which Hop quickly responded to with mouthed apologies. “You’re still bloody mad at him, right Marn?”</p><p>“It’s okay Gloria.” Marnie tried to laugh off the embarrassment she was feeling. God knows what she must have looked like staring at Victor and for how long. “He looks really sorry, don’t you think?”</p><p>“Oh, I know that look and it’s not a sorry one.” Victor turned away from his intent stare on Marnie and shot his sister the most <em>do not dare </em>look he could muster up. She promptly ignored him. “It’s the same look he gave the berry girl back in Wedgehurst when he wanted a discount on the berries. And the same look he gave Sarah back at school when he wanted to switch partners so he could work with Hop cos he had the best grades.”</p><p>Marnie’s thoughts were suddenly flooded with imagined scenarios she couldn’t push away. Victor leaning over a school desk, flashing a devilish grin at the cute blonde sat there. Victor holding the hands of a girl selling berries, convincing her to give him her last Sitrus berries of the day with his most innocent smile. Victor with his hands either side of a faceless girl in a pink dress, pinning her against a wall as he leaned in ever so…</p><p>“You’re such a bastard!” Marnie shouted as she more than playfully punched Victor in the arm, trying to push dangerous thoughts from her mind. Victor only laughed as she did.</p><p>“I’m sorry Marn.” It hurt more than she’d admit when he transitioned back to the nickname everyone else used for her. “It’s just my most persuasive technique. I’ve used it for years and it’s never failed me. I’ve used it on all my friends to varying degrees of success. It’s a rite of passage to take on my skills of persuasion. Hop even falls for it every once in a while.”</p><p>“I do not! I just know when it’s coming and it’s easier to give you what you want than endure it.”</p><p>“Sure, sure, Hop. Whatever you say.” Victor quickly switched from the joking look he had given Hop to the sincere one he was giving her now. She’d looked at his eyes so often she could tell they were different now. They were more pleading. “I’m really sorry. Please forgive me Marn, I’ll do anything to make it up to you.”</p><p>“What are you sorry for?” Victor was shocked at the question. In fact, so were Hop and Gloria. When she and Gloria found out that Victor had been using her as a way to apologise to his sister without any of the burden of actually doing it, they had hatched a plan. They were going to break him down until he made the offer he had just made. Then they would pounce and have him order every dessert on the café menu. A fool proof plan as Victor would put it. But after witnessing his fake ‘look’ she wanted him to squirm more.</p><p>“Erm. I’m sorry for using you to apologise for me. It wasn’t right and I should handle those things myself.”</p><p>“And?”</p><p>“For trying to persuade you to forgive me?” Victor aired the sentence as a question, hoping it was the right answer.</p><p>“Is that how you’d put it? You used a look that you’ve supposedly used on every girl you’ve ever met in the hopes of getting me to do what you want. Which is just like the thing I was upset at you for in the first place. And I wasn’t even upset about that! We were just trying to get some cakes out of you!”</p><p>“Seriously?” Victor turned to stare dumbfounded at Gloria who just laughed sheepishly.</p><p>Marnie looked down and away from the table as Victor and Gloria began to argue about what he described as a ‘diabolical plan’ and she backfired with ‘you’re one to talk.’ Marnie could still feel a bit of sadness bubbling up to the surface. The sun was high in the sky as the siblings argued and Hop laughed at their increasingly ridiculous insults. Morpeko had snuggled into her lap, clearly stuffed from all the treats Marnie had given her. Victor’s Gengar had slumped down against Marnie’s legs and was snoring loudly. Marnie heard a loud laugh as she took in the scene at the table. She didn’t realise it was hers until they all had turned to face her.</p><p>“I’m sorry, I’m gonna go.” This entire situation had had her flustered and frustrated. She needed to leave. To allow the feelings that swamped her around Victor to wash away in his absence. The appropriate thoughts that he clouded would become clearer the more distance she put between them.</p><p>“Wait Marn, you don’t have to go!” She heard Gloria shout over the smacking of her boots against the cobbles of Hammerlocke. She really did have to leave though. She liked her new friends. Team Yell were her friends as well but with Hop, Gloria and Victor it was different. They weren’t friends with her because they were friends with Piers first. They liked her and hung out with her because they thought she was cool. They liked Marnie, not the new hope of Spikemuth. And she was ruining it by overthinking things. Victor was charming. Victor was flirty. It was just the way it was. She can flirt as well as any Spikemuth girl and those skills had gotten a blush or two out of Victor. It was fun to have that kind of rivalry.</p><p>She’s almost convinced of this by the time she arrives at the hotel she had booked in for the night. Almost.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Marnie spent the next week in the Hammerlocke Hills training her team. She had five badges now which put her further ahead than most other gym challengers. She had struggled against Opal, her fairy types were one of Marnie’s key weaknesses. She needed to get stronger so those she was weak against would be easier to take on. Despite matching Victor and Gloria badge for badge, she was starting to feel left behind. She hadn’t beaten either of them in the battles they’d had. She knew they were her main competition.</p><p>The other challengers didn’t hold a candle to Gloria’s strength or Victor’s strategies. At this point she’d put herself third strongest among the gym challengers. Hop’s confidence that usually helped him out so much in battle had been shot down by Bede and his insults. Marnie felt that a combination of this and her training had edged her own strength above his. She’d watched some of the remaining challengers battles at the Stow on Side gym and the highlights on her Rotom phone whenever someone got another badge. Nobody impressed her the way her friends did. The one time she had battled Hop, she felt his cheerfulness and confidence radiate all the way to his Pokémon and she could swear they got stronger as a result. She’d only just won that one. She’d last battled Gloria after running into her in the Wild Area after they’d both got their third badge. She was left in awe by the way Gloria had fun whilst battling. With every command, she would smile. With every attack, she would laugh. Her Pokémon were the same. They combined their awesome strength with the fun of competing. Gloria had won using her Fletchinder, Drizzile and Duraludon. Marnie had never had so much fun in a battle.</p><p>Victor and his sister couldn’t have been more different. She always watched the highlights of his gym battles. Because they were rivals, of course she would. Victor was ruthless, clean and efficient. He didn’t waste a command, a step or even a single ball throw. His team were completely in sync with him that sometimes he didn’t even have to give them a command, they’d already know what he wanted them to do. She’d watched his battle with Opal during a break in training a few days ago. His Gengar was even more ruthless than when it had been a Haunter. Gengar had shredded its way through Opal’s team but Victor hadn’t smiled once. After the battle he’d thrown up a peace sign and grin at the crowd like he usually would after a win. But this time, Marnie had noticed something. It was all fake. He hadn’t had fun at all. Not like his sister would have. Had he always been like this? Had she just imagined that he was having fun whenever she watched him battle? She was sure the smiles he’d shoot her when they battled were genuine but now there was doubt. Maybe she didn’t know her rival as well as she thought.</p><p>Marnie was lost in these thoughts as she wandered back into Hammerlocke and made her way to a nearby boutique. She deserved to treat herself after training so hard this week. As she perused through the jackets, her thoughts flitted between several new strategies she could adopt.</p><p>“Hey.”</p><p>Marnie was broken out of her reverie by a familiar lazy drawl. As she turned to face the source of it she was met by the boyish face of Victor. His right hand rested on the back of his neck and he was looking up and away from her, as though the jackets in the women’s section were remarkably interesting. A red tint was visible across his nose. Was he embarrassed about something?</p><p>“Hey, V.” Marnie smiled and moved towards Victor, punching him gently in the chest. The tint across his nose spread to his cheeks. Marnie stifled a laugh. “Summat bothering you?”</p><p>“Yeah actually,” Victor chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. “I haven’t spoken to you since last week at the café. I wanted to apologise. Again. I’m sorry, Marn.”</p><p>“No!” Marnie shouted, unintentionally. The woman at the counter shot her a look and she mouthed an apology before reducing her volume. “You don’t have to apologise again. I was just feeling a bit off so I left. It wasn’t your fault.”</p><p>Victor rotated his head and looked at her the way he studied an opponent. Those eyes revealed secrets to him that no one else could ever notice. His blush had transferred to her. “So, we good then?”</p><p>Marnie laughed. “Don’t put it like that! But yeah. ‘We good’, V.”</p><p>“Thank Arceus, that’s been eating at me all week. Now, lets get shopping shall we?”</p><p>“What?” Marnie stared, dumbfounded. Did he just?</p><p>“Come on, you’re done here right?” Victor slung his arm around Marnie’s shoulder and directed her towards the exit of the boutique. She absolutely did not lean into him as he did so. The woman from the counter wished her half-hearted goodbyes as she pulled out her Rotom phone. “I mean none of those jackets really seem to match your style. But I have found some really cool leather jackets at a place round the corner. Since you always look so cool, I was thinking of getting one for myself.”</p><p>Marnie blushed at that. This was happening far too often around him at this point. Her traitorous face kept betraying her as she smiled. Upon their exit she saw two girls standing by the window to the shop. They had their Rotom phones hovering by their heads set to the camera function and Marnie swore she saw one of them gawk at the placement of Victor’s arm.</p><p>“Hey, you’re Victor right? I saw your latest battle. You were so cool.” The gawking girl blushed as her and her friend stood in front of them. Was there something in the water?</p><p>Victor laughed. It was disarming and fake as she had ever heard it. He didn’t move his arm. Marnie didn’t shrug it off either. “Thanks, I appreciate that. Compliments like that make me really want to keep trying my best!”</p><p>The other girl spoke up. “We’re both really big fans of yours! When we saw you walking into the shop, we just had to come up and tell you!” The girl grabbed her Rotom phone from above her and blushed almost as much as her friend. “Do you mind if we…”</p><p>“That’s so nice of you!” Victor cut off the girl with an even broader smile. She didn’t seem to care that he’d interrupted as she stared at it. “To have girls like you as fans, I must be the luckiest guy in Galar! It was so nice to meet you, but me and my mate have got a gym challenger thing to get to. I hope to see you around.”</p><p>Victor jostled his arm and pulled Marnie so they could walk around the two fans. They simply smiled and giggled as he walked by. Marnie waited until they were round the corner before she spoke.</p><p>“That was quite mean of you.” She declared as she played with one of the zips on her jackets.</p><p>“Hmm?”</p><p>“You don’t think you were? They clearly wanted a picture with you.”</p><p>“That’s not what they really wanted.” Victor removed his arm from Marnie’s shoulder and strolled over to a nearby bench to sit. She missed the weight of him but followed. “They wanted to monopolise my time so they felt important. They didn’t mean a word they said. I’m popular and I’m good looking. So, to have me do as they asked would be a great boost to their egos. I refuse to be in that situation.”</p><p>Victor was more solemn than she’d seen him ever before. Marnie pondered on his words. What was wrong with making your fans feel good? She’d never thought about it the way he had but he definitely made the interaction seem more sinister than it had been. Fans always wanted pictures. Team Yell would take them all the time to send them back to her brother. He’d message her and tell her how proud he was every time he got a photo.</p><p>“You make it sound like those girls had an evil plan. They just liked you and wanted to take a picture with you. Then they’d brag to other fans about it. It happens to gym leaders all the time.”</p><p>“I don’t like that kind of thing,” Victor paused and took a deep breath. “I hate people who think they’re entitled to the attention of others. Or project their own fantasies on others about what they want them to be. It’s their own flimsy form of control. When people do that with me, I hate it. I always see through it.”</p><p>Marnie fiddled with another zip of her jacket. She thought back to the recording of Victor’s battle with Opal. He was just as fake after that battle as he was with the two fans. As she thought back she realised he had acted that way after every battle she’d seen him have. After every interaction with a different person. His ingenuity spread around him like an invisible shield. People could never see it so they never recognised the distance. Their perception of their interactions with Victor were always different to his. They saw a charming guy who was aloof and fun. He saw right through them to their core, to their every motivation and nothing past that. How had she missed it? It was reflected in his battle style. Every strategy perfectly crafted to counter his opponent as though he already knew what they would do. Because he did. Every small action they made laid themselves bare to him. It was so obvious to her now.</p><p>“You don’t like battling do you?” Marnie asked, already prepared for the answer.</p><p>“No.” Came his response.</p><p>“Your sister loves it. And Hop too. It’s what makes them strong. But you don’t. That’s what makes you strong.”</p><p>He didn’t respond. He knew it was a statement, not a question.</p><p>“So why do the gym challenge?”</p><p>“I don’t really know. Hop and Glory wanted to do it. Ever since they were kids, they obsessed over it. They watched Leon and they declared that they would be the ones to beat him. As they got more and more immersed in Pokémon battling I just watched and got involved when they wanted me to. I watched everyone as if I could figure out why they were so obsessed with it just by observing. In the end I watched my classmates so much I knew them better than they did. I knew why each one of them wanted to be a Pokémon trainer and why they wanted to get stronger. So I thought if I did it as well, I could learn more about myself and why Hop and Glory wanted to be trainers and commit their lives to it. So I joined the gym challenge with them. But I never really got into it. I love Pokémon. But I don’t really care for battling. Not the way you guys do. I like the interaction of battling and studying my opponent but I don’t get that feeling, you know? So now, I’m just trying to figure out what I actually want to do.”</p><p>It was quite the confession but Marnie felt as though she already knew somehow. It had been dancing at the back of her mind for weeks. He’d always been different to her, Gloria, Hop and even Bede. They all enjoyed battling. All for different reasons but the love was still there. But Victor must’ve enjoyed something about it if he kept doing it. The pieces were beginning to click. The way he flustered her and declared her his rival upon their first meeting. The way he battled with efficient strategies. The way he had fine crafted that look he had used on her in the café. The way he danced around those girls so they felt satisfied with the interaction despite not getting what they wanted.</p><p>“You don’t like battling because it’s unpredictable,” Victor smiles at Marnie’s declaration. A small, real smile meant to encourage confidence to continue. “You like controlling things and managing situations so you feel comfortable with them. Battles force you out of that comfort zone no matter how clever your strategies are.”</p><p>Victor laughed at that. A small, breathy laugh. A laugh of confession and filled with such genuine energy, Marnie couldn’t help but smile.</p><p>“Yeah. I guess that’s what it is.”</p><p>“So, what do you think you actually want to do?”</p><p>“Who knows? If I do well in the gym challenge, I’m sure that would open a lot of doors career wise. But being a trainer doesn’t really suit my disposition.”</p><p>“It could change later, you know?” Marnie edged closer to Victor on the bench and elbowed him softly in the side. He stared down at her with a puzzled smile. “One day, you could have such an amazing battle that it wows you into wanting to be a trainer. At least, that’s what I hope. You’re too good at it to not like it.”</p><p>Victor laughed at that. It wasn’t fake but it wasn’t genuine. Nerves? Embarrassment, maybe?</p><p>“Thanks, that actually means a lot coming from you.”</p><p>“Don’t mention it, V.”</p><p>“I hope it’s you.” Victor whispered as he leaned his head over the back of the bench. It was quiet enough that Marnie debated whether she had heard it. She decided she hadn’t. “Oh Arceus. I can’t believe I told you all that. Gloria always tells me not to let anyone find out I’m secretly so weird around people.”</p><p>Marnie laughed, feeling the tension of the situation dissipate. “If it helps, you’re weird in a way that you’ve convinced them you’re normal. You actually convince them you’re pretty cool. Almost had me fooled.”</p><p>“You don’t think I’m cool, M?” Victor quickly flicked his head back up to look Marnie in the eye. His right arm moved to rest on top of the bench, behind Marnie’s back. “That hurts, you know? I try my best.”</p><p>Marnie feels the heat spread to her cheeks. Damn traitorous face. She forces herself to look back at him and respond nonchalantly. “You’re trying too hard. You can’t fool truly cool people. Like me. And your sister.”</p><p>“Ouch!” Victor clutched his left hand to his chest in mock hurt. “You think my sister is cool but not me? That actually hurts, M.”</p><p>There it was again. That damn nickname that made her heart ache. “Why do you keep calling me that?”</p><p>“What? M?”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“You don’t like it?” His question sounded drenched in innocence but the smirk at his mouth betrayed him.</p><p>“You know that I do.” Marnie had given up. She couldn’t back and forth with him anymore in this situation. She was at his mercy. She wanted to be.</p><p>“Well, I think it’s because you know something about me that only Glory really knows. So, what we were before and what we are now, is something completely different. If something so fundamental has changed then it needs to be addressed. You’re M to me now, just like I’m V to you. It’s unique. Like what we’ve become.” Victor stared up at the clouds above alongside this declaration. Marnie followed his gaze and saw a distinctly Bouffalant shape where it landed. She smiled as she looked back to Victor. His face was awash with red. Oh.</p><p>“You’re blushing really bad, V.” Marnie laughed as she poked him in the arm.</p><p>“Of course I am, I’m so embarrassed.” He replied, still gazing at the clouds. Marnie knew that reaction well. He wasn’t paying attention to the clouds. He simply couldn’t look at her. “I can’t believe I just said all that. Arceus, did I think that was gonna sound cool?”</p><p>“Well, I liked it.” She replied to the rhetorical, against her better judgement.</p><p>“Really?” He stared dumbfounded at her. She doubted she’d be able to get him to make that expression again so she saved it away in her memory. “I mean, of course you did. We’re both really cool after all.”</p><p>The blush still hadn’t faded from his cheeks but he wasn’t refusing to look at her now. He smiled softly before mimicking her and poking her in the arm.</p><p>“So I’ve thoroughly embarrassed myself by spilling the secrets of my aimless existence and control issues. You have to tell me something now.”</p><p>“I don’t think that’s how it works, V.”</p><p>“Oh, it most certainly does.” Victor paused and returned his expression to the usual piercing gaze he would fix her with. Just when she thought she was taking back control, too. “You have to give me some nugget of information that no one else knows. Otherwise, I’m gonna call you a worse nickname. Like Marnieboo.”</p><p>“There is no way that you are doing that.”</p><p>“Then you know what you have to do.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her with the reply. He clearly thought whatever she was being forced to offer up would be juicy.</p><p>“I’ve never really spent my birthday with anyone except my brother.” She offered. This wasn’t exactly as big a secret as Victor’s but she still struggled to continue. “I never really had friends I liked so much that I’d rather spend my birthday with over my brother.”</p><p>“I’ve seen videos of some of your brother’s gigs. I don’t blame you, he seems really cool.” He responded without judgement.</p><p>“Well, now that I’m traveling on the gym challenge I won’t really get to spend it with him. So…”</p><p>“So?” Victor’s breath hitched with the question.</p><p>“So if you decided to spend another week in Hammerlocke, maybe we could spend it together? With Gloria and Hop too if they’re still around. I just think it’d be really fun.” Marnie occupied her hands with the zips of her jacket as she awaited Victor’s response. Was he taking really long? Would he say he didn’t want to? Would he laugh? Surely not. He’d all but said they were really close now. He wouldn’t do that right?</p><p>“Let me get this straight,” he began. “Your birthday is next week. And you didn’t tell any of us? Are you serious?”</p><p>“I didn’t think it was relevant.”</p><p>“Of course it’s relevant! You better hope Glory is still hanging about Hammerlocke. She’s gonna be so mad if she left and you hadn’t told her about it.”</p><p>“I didn’t even think about that,” Marnie clasped her face in her hands. How could she have been so stupid? “Of course Gloria would want to know. Oh Arceus, she’s gonna plan something isn’t she?”</p><p>“She’s gonna plan the biggest birthday you ever had. If she doesn’t blow all eighteen previous ones out the water then she’ll never forgive herself.”</p><p>Marnie sighed. She didn’t know how she felt about a big celebration for her birthday. But, she relented, if Gloria was planning it then surely she’d make it fun. Gloria didn’t do anything if it wasn’t fun.</p><p>“Now come on,” Victor called from further up the street, interrupting her thoughts. She hadn’t even noticed he’d moved. “We were supposed to get a jacket for me, right? You can show me what you like present wise whilst we shop.”</p><p>As he turned, Marnie caught the very real smile that graced his lips. She’d never seen anything like it before, especially on him. She thought about tracing her fingers over those lips and committing the way they quirked permanently in her mind. Oh, Arceus. This was not happening. She was not going to crush on her rival.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Early update because I knew I'd forget to post on the Sunday. I was originally gonna have this and chapter 5 be one chapter but I thought it would be too big and they both have quite different vibes so I split them up.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The week quickly flew by and before she knew it, Marnie was celebrating her birthday with her friends. As expected, Gloria had planned the entire day down to the last minute. The four of them had spent the morning and better half of the afternoon camping next to a lake in the Wild Area. They had fished, cooked curry, talked and had fun with their Pokémon. At one point, Gloria had challenged Victor to a battle who reluctantly agreed after Marnie had tried her best pout on him. To say it was one of the best battles outside of a stadium she had watched would have been an understatement. Gloria battled like she always would, with a smile plastered to her face and her Pokémon having the greatest time they could. Victor, however, couldn’t have behaved more differently. His cool façade had broken, and he pursed his mouth in concentration. He frowned constantly and Marnie could tell he was annoyed. Gloria was far too unpredictable and his usual analysis had clearly failed him. Marnie focused her attention on Gloria in an attempt to narrow down the reason why he couldn’t get a read on her. Surely it should have been easier when it was someone you’d known your entire life? Did Gloria have her own way of countering Victor’s analytical skills? In any event, the battle ended with two of Gloria’s Pokémon remaining. Her Talonflame had quickly swept up after Victor had run out of strategies to counter Gloria’s overwhelming energy.</p>
<p>He congratulated his sister on the win, an ever so familiar artificial smile gracing his lips. She stared at him for a while, a disgruntled look on her face and signs of a vein popped on her forehead. She sighed when Hop broke her out of it and mumbled a ‘whatever’ before moving to recover her Pokémon by the curry pot. Marnie shot Victor a questioning look but he simply shrugged it off with the same smile.</p>
<p>Gloria’s mood hadn’t lasted for long and when they’d finished camping she dragged Marnie off, arm in arm, to the drastically upscale café they’d decided to go to. Gloria claimed the tea was the best she’d ever had and exclaimed it was ‘hilarious to watch posh people in their natural environment’. She and Victor had quickly got over whatever silent argument they had had as they both imitated the accents and mannerisms of the clientele around them. Victor was so good at adapting to the role that as he was having a conversation with a gentleman with a top hat at a nearby table about the stock market, Gloria and Hop broke their character and burst out laughing. The man looked confused and offended by this, but Victor quickly distracted him by talking about Chairman Rose’s newest company. Marnie couldn’t help but smile as she noticed the hidden smirk on Victor’s face during the entire interaction.</p>
<p>After the man had left and thanked Victor for the delightful conversation, he finally cracked and collapsed onto Marnie’s shoulder. She could see the tears in his eyes as he clutched his wheezing stomach. Marnie let a few laughs escape herself, her focus shattered by the close proximity of Victor’s head. Once her friends had calmed down, Gloria decided it would be the perfect time for Marnie to open her gifts. Victor had ordered a, ridiculously expensive, cupcake and had pulled a candle from his pocket. After lighting it, she noticed a smirk on his face and as he opened his mouth to sing Marnie lunged forward and clasped her hands around his mouth.</p>
<p>“Don’t you dare.” She whispered harshly, whilst shooting a threatening glare to Hop and Gloria. Gloria mimed zipping her mouth shut whilst Hop nodded animatedly. She looked back to Victor to be met with warm, welcoming eyes and quickly realised she had been covering his mouth for far too long. “Sorry.”</p>
<p>“I don’t mind at all.” He replied, shooting her a smile so rare and real her heart briefly stopped.</p>
<p>“Marn, open mine first!” Gloria commanded, shoving a gift bag across the café table into Marnie’s arms. “I think I’ve blown the boys’ gifts out of the water, and considering I was only given a week’s notice I’m gonna be smug for the rest of the day.”</p>
<p>“How could you possibly know your gift is better? You haven’t even seen ours.” Victor replied before taking a sip of his tea.</p>
<p>“It’s a girl thing, you wouldn’t understand.” Gloria simply smiled, clearly not lying about her smug comment.</p>
<p>Marnie calmly opened the gift bag in her lap. She tried desperately to push down the overwhelming excitement of spending her birthday with her best friends, and now opening gifts from them. She didn’t want to embarrass herself, after all the other three had probably done this every birthday since they were kids. She’d only ever got presents from her brother.</p>
<p>“This is amazing, Gloria!” Marnie practically squealed as she pulled out the cutest hoodie she’d ever seen. It was shaped in Morpeko’s hangry mode, with ears sticking out from the hood that was emblazoned with Morpeko’s signature red eyes and electricity pouches.</p>
<p>“That’s not all! That’s not all! Check the bag, check it!” Gloria showed as much excitement as Marnie felt as she stumbled over her words. Marnie handed the hoodie to Victor who had reached out to examine it. She dug further in the bag and pulled out a square metal case. As she opened it, numerous photos spilled out of pictures she had taken with people important to her. There was one when she was younger and had tried baking with Piers. In the photo she looked much more serious than usual as she pulled the dessert out of the oven and Piers looked on from behind with a smirk of pride. In another she had posed with Hop, Gloria and Victor after they had won their first gym badges. Hop and Gloria were either side of her, Hop had his arms folded behind his head whilst Gloria linked arms with Marnie and beamed. Marnie, herself, posed with her fingers lifting the corners of her mouth to try and match Gloria and Hop’s smiles. Victor had laughed warmly at the action and had then copied her for the photo as he peered over her left shoulder. Other pictures had her posing with just Gloria or just Victor. Some had her with Team Yell and another particularly cool looking one was her during battle at Motostoke stadium.</p>
<p>“So, I had to get your brother’s number from some Team Yell guys who were more than happy to help. They sent me some pictures they had already taken when I explained what I was doing. Then your brother sent me loads, like way too many to possibly use so I just picked the cutest two. The others are obviously from the majestic photography skills of yours truly, except Vic who surprisingly had some good ones. Then I got them all done up in the foil that our league cards are done like so they’re extra resistant and cool looking. The case had a Zigzagoon on and I just thought that was a cool thing to have them in!” Gloria trailed off and laughed nervously when she saw Marnie was still flicking through the photos. “So, Marn, what do you think?”</p>
<p>Marnie felt the excitement she was holding back bubbling up and breaking through the boundary. She flushed red and grabbed Gloria’s hand resting on the table. “This is the best, Glo. You didn’t have to do this much! It’s amazing!”</p>
<p>“I did have to! I have been stuck with a boy best friend and brother for my entire life. I have been preparing for this day ever since we met, I knew we’d be best friends, so it was easy.”</p>
<p>Marnie retreated her hand and placed the case on her lap. After the excitement broke, a permanent gentle smile plastered itself to her face.</p>
<p>“Lift your arms up.” Victor whispered to her as she thumbed the metal case in her lap. She was confused until he held the Morpeko hoodie up to her. She did as he said and he gently pulled the hoodie over her until it hung loosely on her frame.</p>
<p>“You look great,” he declared as she quickly pulled the hood up to hide her face, “I hate how good my sister is at birthdays.”</p>
<p>“It’s a gift,” Gloria responded as she mockingly flicked her hair over her shoulder. “I’m simply brilliant at so many things.”</p>
<p>“I do wish you had gone last though, Glo.” Hop responded. “How are we supposed to follow that?”</p>
<p>“Just go ahead and give her yours so she can declare me the winner already. I don’t need your complaints!” Gloria laughed, clearly exaggerating it into a cackle remiss of an evil genius.</p>
<p>Hop sighed but then put on his best beaming smile as he pulled a present out of his bag. He pushed it across the table and Marnie could see it was contained by Wooloo print wrapping paper. She couldn’t prevent a slight chuckle at that. Typical Hop.</p>
<p>“This one’s mine. I hope you like it.”</p>
<p>Marnie unwrapped the expertly sealed paper and was met with the face of an Umbreon emblazoning the cover of a book.</p>
<p>“A complete expert analysis of the Dark type, including a comprehensive examination of all known existing Dark type Pokémon? That’s quite the title.” Marnie read out loud. Hop quickly jumped to explain the gift at the confused look on Marnie’s face.</p>
<p>“It’s written by Karen of the Indigo Elite Four. It’s not sold in Galar but when I was studying for the gym challenge all the websites said this was the best for Dark type stuff. So, I ordered it from Johto and it just arrived yesterday. I know you love Dark types and battling so I thought this was the best of both worlds. I hope you like it.” Hop explained, putting on his familiar radiant smile with it.</p>
<p>“This is great, Hop! Thanks a lot. It should have dark types that can’t be found in Galar so that’s real interesting.” Marnie replied with excitement. She’d never expected Hop to be the kind of person to get her a book but it was perfect after considering it.</p>
<p>After Marnie put the book away in her bag, everyone turned expectantly to Victor. He simply sipped on his tea, remaining remarkably neutral.</p>
<p>“Oh, I guess its my turn,” he sighed as he placed his empty cup back down on the table. “I just want to apologise for being absolutely terrible at presents. I have many skills, but this is not one of them.”</p>
<p>Victor reached down to his bag as Gloria and Hop laughed amongst each other. Hop leaned over to get Marnie’s attention.</p>
<p>“Last year on Vic’s and Glo’s birthday she got him that parka he always wears. You know? The Lovely Nightmare print one. He got her a towel.” Gloria started laughing again as Hop simply shook his head.</p>
<p>“It was a nice towel.” Victor murmured from underneath the table.</p>
<p>“It was actually a nice towel,” Gloria got out between laughs. “But you said, and I quote, ‘you can stop stealing mine now’ as you threw it at me.”</p>
<p>“Well I accomplished my goal. You didn’t steal my towel again cos you had a more distinctive one. Also, fluffier.” Victor replied as he brought up a distinctly Poké ball shaped present from under the table and placed it in Marnie’s hands. “I actually knew I wanted to get you this as soon as you told me it was your birthday. It took me all week to find one but I wasn’t gonna give up ‘cos I was absolutely sure this would be the best I could come up with. I hope you like it, M.”</p>
<p>Marnie slowly unwrapped the gift and was unsurprisingly met by a Dusk ball. He did warn her he was bad at presents. “It’s a dusk ball? I do use them for all my Pokémon so, thanks V.”</p>
<p>Victor laughed at that and was met by the confused faces of all three of them. “I didn’t just get you a Dusk ball, M. There’s actually a Pokémon inside it. It’s small enough that you can let it out in the café, I checked with the waitress.”</p>
<p>Marnie looked down at the Dusk ball in her hand and back up to Gloria and Hop. They both looked as confused as she felt. She looked back to Victor, his face consumed with unabashed excitement as he waited for her to release the Pokémon from the ball. She’d never seen such an unfiltered, unfaked emotion on his face. She decided that was a good enough present in itself.</p>
<p>“Okay. Come on out.” Marnie declared as a familiar blue light emerged from the ball. The light converged into the shape of an Eevee, curled up on the café table. The Eevee’s right ear flipped from under its eye as it examined everyone sat around the table. Hop stared, unabashedly amazed. Gloria eyed it, jaw wide. Victor stared at Marnie, awaiting her reaction. The Eevee flew off the table and into Marnie’s arms.</p>
<p>“I showed her a picture of you and told her that was going to be her trainer. From the reaction I think she got the message.” Victor chuckled as they all watched the Eevee wrap itself around Marnie’s shoulder before falling back asleep.</p>
<p>“Vic, did you dye an Eevee a different colour? You can’t do that!” Gloria protested before Hop cut in.</p>
<p>“No way, Glo. The silver is natural. Lee found a different coloured Oddish once and we looked it up. They’re really rare but it happens that Pokémon are sometimes born like that. I’ve never seen a silver Eevee before!” Hop’s excitement had reached it’s most extreme levels as he stood up to pet the Eevee wrapped around Marnie’s shoulders.</p>
<p>“I figured you’d want to evolve it into an Umbreon. Your new book can help figure out how to do that. Do you like her?”</p>
<p>“She’s beautiful, V. When I heard the towel story I was worried. You don’t give yourself enough credit, this is amazing.” The Eevee purred as Marnie reached up to stroke behind its ear.</p>
<p>“Damn, I thought I had this in the bag.” Gloria bemoaned as she too reached across the table to pet the silver-furred Pokémon. “But I planned the day, you’ve gotta give me even more credit for that.”</p>
<p>“Not everything is a competition Glory.” Victor responded.</p>
<p>“That’s what losers say.”</p>
<p>“Nobody won anything.” Marnie laughed as her new companion snuggled into her neck. “Everything you guys got me was great. The whole day was just great. Thanks. I’m lucky to have friends like you guys.”</p>
<p>Gloria scrunched up her face and wiped a stray tear from her eye as Victor arched his head at her quizzically. “Enough of that. You’ll ruin my make up. Besides, we’re just getting started.”</p>
<p>“What do you mean?” Marnie questioned, her Eevee slid down her arm to coil itself in her lap. She absentmindedly stroked her from head to tail.</p>
<p>“Since me, Hop and Vic are from the good ole countryside we’ve never got to enjoy the city nightlife. I just thought a Spikemuth girl would want to go and see a band on her birthday, right?”</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Content Warning: Sexual Themes and Drinking.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Hey Marn, if I ask a serious question, will you be honest with me?”</p><p>Gloria gazed at Marnie through the mirror in the hotel room vanity as she finished applying her makeup. The smile she had on her face did not match the sincerity of her tone. They had returned to Marnie’s hotel room after the café whilst Hop and Victor had gone to Hop’s room on the floor above. Gloria had also bought a dress that she knew Marnie would love and had convinced her to wear it for the evening ahead. Which had brought them to here, with Marnie perched on the edge of the bed, pawing her way through the many photos Gloria had surprised her with.</p><p>“I’m sorry. It’s your birthday and I shouldn’t bring the mood down with something serious. I just thought it was a good opportunity is all.” Gloria bemoaned, rigidly maintaining the smile she wore. It wasn’t the kind of façade she had grown used to seeing on Victor which meant whatever his deal was didn’t run in the family. Gloria’s was kind and real and made friends and strangers alike feel warm.</p><p>“No, it’s fine. We’re mates right? I don’t mind being serious with you.” Marnie replied, hesitance evident as her tone wavered. She was suddenly overcome with nervous energy. Gloria seemed to be overcome with a serious air, the kind she reserved for truly difficult battles or for dealing with her twin.</p><p>“You like my brother, right?” Gloria placed the brush she was using on the desk and rotated to face the other girl, their knees a few inches apart. Marnie gulped and dropped the photo case to the floor. Of all the topics she had quickly mentally prepared for since Gloria had started the conversation, this hadn’t crossed her mind. She decided her best option was to play it cool. She laughed.</p><p>“Are you gonna give me the protective sister speech, Glo? I didn’t expect that of you.”</p><p>“I thought you were gonna be honest with me.” Gloria replied quickly. She was the picture of seriousness now. The warmth in her eyes remained yet were shadowed by a kind sadness.</p><p>“Okay,” instinctively conceding to the look on her friend’s face. “I maybe, kinda have a small crush on him.”</p><p>Gloria sighed. A small smile returned. “I thought so. If it’s possible, could you stop having one?”</p><p>Marnie short circuited. This was not at all the response she was expecting. “W-what?”</p><p>“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. That was weird. Let me explain,” Gloria sighed again, bringing her index finger to her chin in thought. This was quickly descending into far too serious a conversation before a night out. “Whatever you think you see in Vic isn’t really there, if that makes sense?”</p><p>Marnie’s brain continued to reboot itself. “Not at all.”</p><p>“My brother is a liar. Not like he tells white lies all the time just ‘cause he can’t help himself. He’s a liar in the way that he conducts himself. You’ve seen it before, right? The way he talks to people?”</p><p>Marnie’s brain had rerouted to full functionality. “You mean how he’s fake to his fans? Everyone who has fans has to put out a different side to them.”</p><p>“You’ve not fully noticed it then? He’s like that with everybody, Marn. Its how his dumbass brain works.”</p><p>“So you’re saying he’s not really friends with us? He just pretends?”</p><p>“Oh shit, no! I can see how you’d get that from what I said though.” Gloria shouted, frantically waving her arms about as if to reassure Marnie she couldn’t be more wrong. “Look this is a big kettle of Wishiwashi that I shouldn’t have opened up. I just wanted to protect you, Marn.”</p><p>“It’s not like I’m rushing out to declare my undying love. I just think he’s pretty to look at is all.” Marnie replied, fiddling with the rim of her dress.</p><p>“Ew.” Marnie laughed at Gloria’s, admittedly, unsurprising reaction. “I’m just warning you that my brother is real weird.”</p><p>“Don’t you have to say that? It’s in the sister’s handbook.”</p><p>“That’s true. But this is a whole different thing. My brother is the smartest person I know. He’s also the dumbest.” Marnie interrupted with a laugh, that description was entirely too accurate. “He’s super cynical to the point where anything genuine confuses him and he has to invent workarounds. I know the real reason he spent so much time on getting that Eevee for you. If I asked he’d give me some bullshit reason about improving his rival or he owes you or some other nonsense. The problem though is that he will actually believe that. It’s so stupid to the point I can’t explain it properly.”</p><p>“And the real reason is?”</p><p>Gloria resumed her carefree attitude and loosened a bellowing laugh as she gathered her bag from the desk. “Are you dense? ‘Cause he cares about you. That simple. Now, are you ready to go? I wanna beat the queues.”</p><p>“I was the one waiting for you.” Marnie muttered with a smile. Gloria pouted until they left the hotel.</p><p>*</p><p>“There is no band playing, is there?”</p><p>Marnie shouted over the drowning volume of club music. Gloria looked up at Marnie, flickering eyelashes peeking out from under her bangs. She sipped the drink in her hand as slowly as possible, forcing every shred of remaining innocence in her body to the surface. It didn’t work and Marnie saw her devious friend for what she was. She laughed upon realising her charms had failed.</p><p>“I didn’t know how you felt about clubs but I definitely knew how you felt about gigs. So, maybe I dangled a tiny little treat in front of your face so I’d finally be able to see you drunk. Hop has a theory that you are the most extraverted drunk and you will become so bubbly that you will put his own trademark excitement to shame and honestly, I hope he’s right. Besides,” Gloria paused as she threw the arm holding her drink around Marnie’s shoulders. Holding the plastic masquerading as an actual cup in a three-finger position she used her index finger to indicate the bar. “If you ask my brother to buy you drinks all night, I guarantee he will.”</p><p>Marnie followed the direction indicated to see Victor leaning against the bar as he waited to be served. He was wearing a white t-shirt that clung tightly to his clearly defined body. The black of the leather jacket she had helped him buy earlier that week contrasted beautifully with his white hair and shirt, and Marnie offered a silent thank you to the inventor of skinny jeans as she admired the definition of Victor’s legs. She admired the way the occasional strobe light bounced off his face that was currently focused on the phone in his hand. She had only had one drink tonight. And a shot. Maybe it was time to stop. Luckily, Gloria interrupted her from her objectification.</p><p>“I’m gonna go and join Hop on the dancefloor. You good to wait here for Vic and keep the table?”</p><p>“Yeah sure, go have fun.”</p><p>“You’re the best, birthday girl.” Gloria shot back as she skipped her way over to Hop who was having too much fun for someone previously dancing alone. Then again, that may have something to do with the shots Victor had made him do as soon as they arrived.</p><p>Marnie returned her attention to her rival at the bar. She quickly deflated at the sight. Victor had their two drinks in hand but was still leaning against the counter as a blonde trailed her fingers up and down his arm. He was smirking down at her as she mustered a look so sultry, Marnie felt as though the rest of the club was encroaching upon something private. The mix of light and shadow prevented Marnie from properly deciphering Victor’s often impossibly complex facial expressions. The smirk she could make out certainly looked like the real deal and one she had shuddered under plenty of times. He leaned down to the girl’s left ear and his face was cut off from Marnie’s view. Instead, she studied the girl’s face as Victor whispered to her. The sultry look had disappeared, replaced by a dropped jaw. She had certainly started breathing heavier and Marnie could feel the heat from her face from across the club. As Victor pulled away, the girl stumbled into the bar. He laughed as he turned away from her and headed towards Marnie.</p><p>“Have fun up there?” Neutrality personified itself in Marnie’s question as she raised an eyebrow at her approaching rival.</p><p>“Hardly. Queuing for a drink in clubs is the worst. People are so sweaty and completely disregard personal space.”</p><p>“I meant the girl idiot.” Marnie replied as she retrieved the drink from Victor’s outstretched hand.</p><p>“You watched that? You could’ve come over to save me. I had to make promises I definitely won’t be able to keep just to incapacitate her long enough to slip away.”</p><p>Marnie blushed at the thoughts swimming through her head. “What kind of promises?”</p><p>“Just the kind that she wanted to hear. A girl like that is out tonight for one thing and one thing only. I just suggested she had bit off more than she could chew. Seemed to work.”</p><p>“You know something? I’m scared about what goes on in your head sometimes.”</p><p>“As you should be. The dark thoughts that consume this troubled genius’ mind are too much to bear for such a sweet birthday girl.” Victor exaggerated his statement with his hand as an impression of a mask. Marnie punched him in the shoulder and laughed.</p><p>“You’re clearly drunk already.” She responded and proceeded to down the rest of her drink.</p><p>“Nah, I can’t get drunk.”</p><p>“Seriously? Well I definitely do and plan on doing so if I’m gonna deal with all these people jostling me.”</p><p>Victor copied Marnie and downed his own drink before placing the bottle on the table next to them. He stepped forward quickly and Marnie instinctively followed backwards before hitting someone else’s back. At the impact she quickly turned her head to apologise but felt herself being pulled forward as an arm snaked around her back. She was soon face to shoulder with Victor.</p><p>“We can’t be having people bothering you, especially on your birthday. You’ll have to stick close to me so I can shield you.” Victor leaned down and whispered to her. She felt heat pool in her face and a tingle flooded her stomach.</p><p>“You’d have to give me your undivided attention for that,” Marnie choked out into the black leather. “No more whispering promises to blondes at the bar.”</p><p>“Who else would I want to give my attention to?” Victor responded, pulling himself away so he could look down at Marnie. Marnie met his eyes. He returned a lidded gaze.</p><p>Marnie crushed and compressed the fluttering in her stomach. She refused to be influenced by the hideous cocktail that was alcohol and hormones. If Victor was playing the usual game of cat and mouse that they played, then she wasn’t about to lose it in this situation. Marnie studied the face looking down at her. Behind the lidded gaze, she noticed eyes consumed with insincerity. Behind the easy-going smile was the grin of a tactician. She will win this time. Step one is getting Victor flustered. He can’t analyse when he’s flustered.</p><p>“How well do you dance, V?” Marnie drawls as she tangles her fingers among Victor’s own.</p><p>She never once takes her gaze away from those cerulean eyes. She knows that he likes to think himself a controlled person. She knows that Gloria warned her that Victor was a living liar. But, she knows that if she stares at those eyes long enough, they’ll occasionally reveal the genuine behind his façade. They do now as Victor falters in his response. He opens his mouth and closes it twice before rebuilding his wrecked composure on a faulty foundation. Marnie checks off step one as complete.</p><p>“Not well at all,” he finally responds. He reciprocates the movement of Marnie’s fingers in his own as he pulls her away from the table and toward the dance floor. “But I’m sticking close to you tonight. If you want to dance? I’ll dance.”</p><p>The fluttering broke through Marnie’s defences. She chastised herself and pushed it back down. Victor thrived on control. His façade is maintained by that control. If he loses that, he will have to cling to the only thing remaining. He will have to cling to the genuine. Step two is arresting control for herself.</p><p>They spill out onto the floor mid song but Marnie refuses to let herself be lost in it. She watches with lidded eyes and flirts with lascivious movements. She notices as Victor’s eyes reveal his constant war with what he desires. His stubborn desire for constant control is fighting a losing battle. She feels through his hands on her hips, his aching desire for experiencing the act of genuine enjoyment. She loses herself in his grasp, encouraging him to do the same with every touch, every caress and every glance. She watches as Victor’s eyes close as he slots their bodies together. She watches as they open and sees once hidden desires spilling out from pools of azure. Marnie checks off step two.</p><p>The fluttering has broken the dam Marnie had constructed and she embraces it now. She feels heat rush through her body, she revels in the heat of Victor’s. Marnie coils her hand around the back of Victor’s neck and drapes the other over his shoulder, circling small movements with her fingers on his shoulder blade. Step three is taking the leap and hoping he catches.</p><p>“Kiss me.” Marnie all but moans as her nose presses up against Victor’s. She runs her hand roughly through his hair, edging him closer towards her lips. He has to take the final step. She closes her eyes, relinquishing the control she had taken and hopes he lets it slip away from both of them. She feels the warm contact of lips on hers and as electric fires through her, she checks off step three.</p><p>Marnie leans up, lips parted and tongue sliding forward. Victor relents and reciprocates, and Marnie feels the breath being yanked out of her. She moves both hands up and into his hair, roughly grasping at strands as the kiss becomes messier. She shudders as Victor pulls her closer against him, his hands floating about her body in indecision of what to experience next. As his right hand comes to rest on her ass, Marnie dives forward and bites on Victor’s bottom lip. A moan escapes him before he quickly pulls away. Marnie is thrown dazedly into the present as the music washes over the lost heat.</p><p>“V?” Marnie pleads, staring up at the man rapidly regaining composure. As he opens his eyes, Marnie recognises an all too familiar sight. Gone is the warring gaze of conflict, returned with vengeance is the façade of control. Victor moves his hands to grasp around Marnie’s wrists, removing them from his hair and dropping them to dangle uselessly at her side. She had wrestled his toxic obsession with control away from him and she knew, she felt his relief at the sensation. He embraced the flood of the feelings she forced through in that kiss and revelled in it. So why had the façade returned. The analyst’s mask rested itself comfortably over Victor’s face. He rejected the genuine as he rejected her, and she felt the flustering wither and die.</p><p>“Gloria and Hop are at a table in the corner. You should head over, I’m gonna get us some drinks.” Before Marnie could relent, he gracefully moved from her grasp and slinked his way toward the bar.</p><p>Marnie made her way across the floor to the corner table and was met with the laughing faces of her two friends.</p><p>“Hey birthday girl, how’s your night going?” Gloria shouted as she pulled Marnie down to sit next to her.</p><p>Marnie thought back to the kiss, she reached up and felt her lips with two fingers and revelled in the electricity it elicited. As lights streak across the haze of her mind and music reverberates against her ears, she shivers at the memory of warm lips against hers. Step four would be successful; she would make sure of it.</p><p>“I’ll let you off for tricking me into a club. It’s been fun.”</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So we've finally got to a Victor centric chapter and we'll see how his brain works. I'm gonna be going more into the plot of this fic from this point onwards and exploring the characters more outside of their relationship with each other as well. I hope everyone who is reading is enjoying it and will enjoy the direction I'm taking it to.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I love you guys so much.”</p><p>Hop repeated for the seventh time that night. With his arm slung around Victor’s shoulders, the group of four trudged through the cold early morning of Hammerlocke. Victor and Hop trailed behind Marnie and Gloria, the two girls laughing at too inappropriate a volume for the current time. Victor simply mumbled a recognition of Hop’s statement as he pulled the older boy’s arm further along his shoulder to more evenly distribute his solid weight.</p><p>In truth, Victor was consumed by his own thoughts, ignorant to the full extent of the conversations around him. He allowed the others to believe he was as drunk as Hop, that the alcohol has simply brought out solemnity in him rather than exuberance. He could never get drunk, not that he’d tried that often. His mind waged constant war against any external interference that would compromise its usual processes. His judgements, analysis and assumptions would be useless if he allowed such a social intoxicant to overwhelm him. It was a form of poison, so Victor could appreciate its function as he did any other, but he refused to let that function take root. The reality was that the girl laughing into the stars above Hammerlocke had dealt him a far greater blow than any toxin ever could. What was she thinking?</p><p>Victor recalled the scenario again and again as he trudged along the cobblestone streets. He drew up conclusion after conclusion, resolving to figure out exactly what her aim was and how he could predict it better in the future. After every conclusion seemed correct, he would remember the shock that surged through him when her fingers intertwined with his own. He would relive the searing flush that rushed through him as her body collided with his own. The overwhelming relief when her lips finally met his, the taste of her consumed his senses and threw his thoughts into disarray. Every conclusion seemed trivial in comparison to the memories that rushed through him, so he discarded them one after another.</p><p>Hop stumbled off Victor’s shoulder and before he could restrain him, the boy rushed ahead and threw himself over Gloria’s back. His sister grunted, then laughed when she felt Hop’s hair nuzzle against her neck. Victor realised immediately that it was not Hop’s body heat that had kept him warm against the chill of the night. The memories of Marnie’s actions that night pulsed an endless warmth throughout him. He recalled when the overtly sexual blonde had approached him at the bar. As he whispered whatever ludicrous thoughts that girl would appreciate enough to leave him alone, he had been transfixed by the figure of Marnie over her shoulder. She was observing the blonde as he watched her absentmindedly run fingers, that elicited electricity in his own, through luminous black hair. Hair usually restrained by twin tails flowed elegantly down her body. The short black dress she had worn hugged tightly to her figure, Victor could still remember the sheer spareness of the material as he pulled her away from the stranger she’d fallen into.</p><p>Victor allowed warm breath to escape into the dark morning air as he brushed off the warmth of the memories. He buried his hands in the pockets of his jacket and silently stared into the star lit sky. He forced his thoughts to regain their composure and began to construct other scenarios as he felt a tug at his arm. Gazing downwards, his eyes locked on emeralds peering into him. A faint red flush spread across her cheeks, her mouth languidly resting in an ‘o’ formation. The heat rushed back to him, blood constricted by temperance soon flowed freely to unbidden areas. Victor forced familiar control to overtake him lest he be consumed yet again.</p><p>“You mind, V?” Marnie questioned as she shrunk her body into his, linking her arm through his own. “It’s freezing out here and Glo’s got her own personal heater. I felt left out.”</p><p>The lyrical softness of her voice swam through the air to reach him, soothing the coarseness of his ears. That music rushed its way across the battlements of his thoughts, decimating his forces of control and judgement. He scrambled to regain any semblance of power in their interactions.</p><p>“Here,” Victor grunted as he struggled his arms out of his jacket and slung it across her shoulders. The jacket swamped her, hiding the dangerously enticing figure underneath. “I’m not that cold, you need it more than me.”</p><p>Marnie tightened the jacket around herself and buried her nose in the collar. A tightness clenched Victor’s throat. She resumed linking his arm, sidling up against him.</p><p>“Such a gentleman,” she teased as the breast of Victor’s jacket rubbed against his arm. “Wasn’t sure if you were gonna brush me off again.”</p><p>“Again?”</p><p>“Like in the club. I was just gettin’ into that dance an all. Then you brushed me off and told me to go sit with Glo. Broke your promise and everything.”</p><p>“My promise?” Marnie was much better at this than Victor thought. He’d pegged her as easily flustered but direct. Here, she danced around the conversation, floating topics about as Victor followed to latch onto them. People who were multidimensional were as interesting as they were annoying. His sister being the latter, the enthralling girl at his side being the former. Most people stuck rigidly to the boxes he had pegged them in. Easily understood. Easily manipulated. Easy to maintain control in interactions. Marnie had thrown away with the box and had him on the defensive ever since. His sister maintained the box, jumping in and out of it at will as though teasing Victor with the knowledge that she was aware of its existence. Hop popped his head out occasionally, throwing Victor every time he did. What did it say about Victor that these were the people he was closest to?</p><p>“You said you’d be my shield tonight, didn’t you? But at the first sign of attack, you retreated.” Manie purred into his side. She wasn’t meeting his eyes, instead snuggling further into his body in an attempt to flee the cold.</p><p>“I never phrased it so gallantly.”</p><p>“Oh, you were far from gallant from where I was watching.”</p><p>Victor resisted the moan threatening to escape from his throat upon Marnie’s statement. At the same time, his jacket had opened from her sidling upon him and he could feel the heat of her body upon his. This cloud of indecision she had embroiled upon him was now frustrating him to no end. She danced around conversation like an expert, she gave away nothing in the same way he never would. Had she learned from watching how he did it? Was it a talent she had been hiding? There were too many questions and not enough answers. If she was copying him, then he’d have to copy her directness.</p><p>“Why did you kiss me?” Marnie stiffened at the question, before rearranging the jacket around her.</p><p>“I don’t remember that happening. You kissed me so I could ask you the same thing.”</p><p>“You asked me to.”</p><p>“So? Were you just doing it because I asked? Do you have no free will of your own? Am I such a succubus that you simply couldn’t resist from doing my bidding?”</p><p>“That’s not relevant, just give me a straight answer.”</p><p>Marnie froze against his side again. She reached down to entangle her fingers in his own. Seconds ticked by as she danced a gentle touch across his palm. Then she whirled him to face her. Her red blush from the cold had spread, a crimson streak splayed itself across her nose. Wide emerald pools had shrunk to squinting spears of jade.</p><p>“Like you would give me one?” Victor tensed at the accusation. “You dance around half truths and white lies. You think because you hide behind a mask that everyone else does too. Well, surprise V, this is me. I’m not pretending to be something I’m not. Everything I am is laid out. For you. This is me being sincere. This is me giving you a straight answer.”</p><p>Marnie reached up with her empty hand and grabbed the collar of Victor’s shirt. She yanked down so his head reached the same level, roughly pushing her lips against his own. Victor’s resistance was maintained by shock. The kiss was sloppy and rough, both of their lips chipped by the cold. She’d landed on the right corner but had quickly adjusted to meet him directly. The feeling of Marnie’s tongue forcing its way past his bottom lip broke the remainder of his resistance. Warmth flooded through his body as he opened his mouth slightly to welcome her. The kiss seemed to stretch for hours as they each wrestled to control the momentum, tongue clashing against tongue, broken skin becoming warmer and wetter as they continued. Marnie pulled away when she felt Victor’s spare hand brush against the small of her back.</p><p>“So? That sincere enough to get through to you? I kissed you because I wanted to. Because I like you and I thought I’d like kissing you. And I did.”</p><p>Victor recovered quickly. His mind sprung back into familiar methods of abstraction. He separated her answer from his perspectives and combined the two. Her answer made sense at face value. He was attracted to Marnie and she was attracted to him. He’d kissed people before and enjoyed it, so on a surface level her answer could be taken literally. There was always a reason behind human action, however. Figuring out Marnie was simply taking much longer than it usually would.</p><p>“You gonna give me a straight answer, V? I think you owe me one.”</p><p>Victor paused. Marnie was his rival. He cared about her as he did for Hop and for his sister. She was now one of the people that he would protect from anyone, from people she believed weren’t hiding behind a mask. He’d protected Gloria from the Heathers of their school when she couldn’t see through them. He’d protected Hop from students deceitful enough to use him for his intelligence. Now he had to protect Marnie from the person deceiving her from behind a mask. From himself. He resolved to tell her the same thing he’d told his sister when she asked how he knew people were bad news. What he’d told Hop when he asked why Victor couldn’t just believe that those Nickits were actually friendly Wooloos.</p><p>“People are inherently liars and schemers. From the moment we are born, we are fed the lies of adults. We learn these lies and we repeat them because there’s no truth for us to repeat. You claim what you say is sincere but from what I’ve seen of this world there’s no way to ever be sure of it. Sincerity is unprovable and open to interpretation. I live by that and its never done me wrong. When I stray from that, people get hurt.”</p><p>Marnie is silent for what stretches out into eternity. The cold has displaced the warmth of happy memories and entwined bodies. Victor is left defenceless and tired. He prepares himself for the inevitable.</p><p>“What happened to you, V?”</p><p>“What?” No scenario he had run prepared him for her answer. She continued to perplex.</p><p>“I played the same games you’ve played your entire life for one night and I’m exhausted. If you think everyone does the same thing that you do, then you’re an idiot. We’d all collapse under the strain of it. People get hurt, V. There’s no way around it. If you hide behind a mask because you’re afraid of that then you’ll never grow. You told me last week you were just trying to figure out what you want to do, right? If you’re pretending to be so many things, how do you know which one is you? How do you know what that person wants to do, or be, or believe in?”</p><p>Victor simply stood there. He allowed the cold of the night to wash over him, revitalising his spirit and his mind. Allowing it to prepare him for a rebuttal, for an answer to her claims. Nothing came to him. The cold was rebuffed by the warmth of slender fingers entwined with his own, with a head of dark hair splayed across his shoulder.</p><p>“I can’t believe I’m friends with such a weirdo.” Marnie mumbled into the leather of Victor’s jackets.</p><p>He laughed.</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I headcanon that a trainer's preferred type says alot about them as a person. This also explains a lot about what's happening in this chapter.</p><p>I know its been a while since I updated this and I haven't abandoned it, I'm just struggling to get down what I want to get down. Hope you enjoy.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>“If you’re pretending to be so many things, how do you know which one is you? How do you know what that person wants to do, or be, or believe in?”</em>
</p><p>Victor was consumed by the question Marnie had posed to him a week ago. As he sat waiting in the warmth of the Hotel Ionia in Circhester, he allowed his mind to wander, to travel newly uncovered paths of his mind. Who was he? He’d never considered it as a serious question, always assuming such a query was only answered by pretentious, philosophical types. Yet, the more he questioned it the more he realised that he had no idea what the answer was. He could tell you what type of person his friends were or what type of person his old classmates were. Arceus, he could even tell you what kind of person the old man he’d just met outside was. He knew these people because he knew their motivations. Their wants and desires. Were his own motivations truly what he desired of his life? Or were they the product of the masks he wore and his brain simply assumed he wanted them? To Hop, Victor was a competitive friend who wanted to challenge him to be the champion. To Gloria, he was an annoying brother whose entire existence boiled down to infuriating her with every action. To Marnie, he had no idea. What did he look like to her now? She had casually said they were still friends after the remarkably honest conversation they’d had on her birthday. Yet, he doubted she would ever see him the same way she had before. He had to figure out her question before she ever saw him again. That may have been the reason he had fled Hammerlocke early the next morning and made his way to Circhester for the 6<sup>th</sup> gym badge. There was also the reason why he was waiting in a hotel lobby at 10am.</p><p>“Ah, what a pleasure it is to see you again. Victor, wasn’t it?” Victor was broken from his reverie by the unmistakeable mirth of an elderly woman. Looking up he was met with the looming, wrinkled face of the fairy type gym leader.</p><p>“It’s good to see you again, Ms Opal. I didn’t expect to find you in Circhester.” Victor threw the opening like an aimless dart. He didn’t dislike Opal, yet he immensely disliked conversing with her. Her age and attitude deceived him into believing she was just a batty old woman. He’d only talked with her once before, after completing her gym battle, and the experience was not enjoyable. Victor was smart enough to realise when his intellect was outmatched. The old woman danced social circles around him and he feared he had revealed far too much about himself. He soon realised he probably had.</p><p>“Yes, I just had a meeting here to discuss the topic of my successor. I assume you are here for a meeting with the same audience?”</p><p>Opal’s question may as well have been a landmine. There were many answers to the question, all revealing a similar level of information. That level being far too much. Deflection seemed like the correct course.</p><p>“Oh, so you managed to find a successor? I was a little disappointed you didn’t see me as a potential candidate.”</p><p>“There’s no need to flatter me. Your association with the chairman clearly indicates you aim for far greater heights.”</p><p>Victor felt anger flare through him. Usually his sister was the only one who could incite such a reaction from him. He swallowed it as best he could.</p><p>“I’m afraid I don’t know what you are implying.” He responded through gritted teeth.</p><p>“I do not mean to imply anything, young one. I do warn you though. For someone so well acquainted with poison, you have underestimated Rose. He is not someone to acquaint yourself with so nonchalantly.”</p><p>“You claim to not imply anything, yet you are making so many allusions I can’t keep up with them.” Victor replied. He knew very well what Opal was getting at but he refused to allow her to lead him through this dance.</p><p>“I very much doubt that. But if you insist I speak plainly, I will. I simply assumed you enjoyed these little verbal battles. It’s not often I get to partake in them myself. The one I participated in with Rose was not nearly as pleasant. Perhaps something happened that gave you a newfound appreciation for directness, hm?”</p><p>Damn this woman. Did she have some elusive fairy powers that allowed her to read his mind? Before he could present a rebuttal, she continued.</p><p>“I do not believe such an impressionable young man should associate themselves with the likes of the chairman. You may think you are clever but don’t overestimate yourself. Rose has you wrapped around his finger. You are simply a pawn. A useful one but still a pawn.”</p><p>Victor laughed. Rose wouldn’t know how to play him even if he gave him the sheet music.</p><p>“Of course I am.” He achieved an eyebrow raise from the old woman for that statement. “I’m not as foolish as Bede to believe I actually matter. What matters is what I want and what Rose wants in return. It’s a transaction. If I have to play the part of pawn, I don’t mind.”</p><p>Opal paused at this. Had he managed to actually throw her off?</p><p>“You are aware that Bede and yourself are children, correct?”</p><p>“I am not a…”</p><p>“No, you are. Whatever you have done to convince yourself that you are different to any other child your age is simply a lie you constructed. I’m going to tell you something that I told Bede. You won’t like it, you might not even believe me but you need to hear it. You do matter, dear. And by associating with Rose you are walking down a path where you slowly convince yourself that you never will.”</p><p>Victor stumbled over his words. His mouth dropped as he stared at the older woman. He stuttered over a response.</p><p>“H-how dare you so arrogantly assume you know me! Y-you don’t know anything about me? You couldn’t possibly!”</p><p>“Oh? Is that not what you have been assuming? Did you not assume you knew Bede and his motivations? You assume you also know Rose’s, do you not? Am I also wrong to have built a picture in my mind of you as you have of them? I am incredibly old, dear. So old that I have outgrown arrogance. But you? You are very young and very smart. Such a dangerous combination. Your intelligence has opened up your eyes to many realities of this world, yet your arrogance has blinded you to far simpler ones.”</p><p>Victor’s processes of control spun wildly, flailing within the storm for a life raft. Why was this happening so often now? Every time he built up conclusions, someone would come and knock them down. Every time he built a box around someone, they broke through it.</p><p>“I do wish you take my advice to heart, Victor. I’d hate to see such a promising young man continue down such a path. You should call your friends. Live life only the way a child can. Enjoy it. Don’t meet with Rose. Don’t immerse yourself in a world a child need not be a part of.”</p><p>Victor collapsed into the chair he had been sat in not ten minutes prior. He rested his forehead in his palms. Opal rested her hand on his shoulder as she walked.</p><p>“Your obsession with the poison type says a lot about you, child. But as a fairy, I must say I believe you have misunderstood them. Consider what I have said, won’t you?”</p><p>And so Victor did, in the warmth of that hotel lobby. He was brought back to Marnie’s question. Did he know who he was? Then he was brought to Opal’s verbal assault. Did he know who anyone was as well as he thought he did?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So I haven't updated this in a while cos I didn't know how I wanted to continue it. I think I've sorted it out now and I believe I know the direction I want to go in. I got a bit lost with this chapter but I think it turned out okay. It's really hard to write Rose cos he's clearly such a sleazy character even if his intentions are ultimately good in trying to save the Galar region but with shady means. I also thought I should add Gloria and Victor's teams here so that you know<br/>Victor: Gengar, Cinderace, Crobat, Venusaur, Dragloak, Dracozolt<br/>Gloria: Inteleon, Cincinno (Skill Link), Urshifu (Dark), Duraludon, Runerigus, Talonflame</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Victor respected Oleana far more than he did Rose. Upon their first meeting he had pegged her as being so hopelessly in love with her boss that she obeyed his every whim. With every subsequent encounter he attempted to prod using questions that followed this line of thought yet she remained as stoic and impassionate as always. He would attempt to subtly insult Rose during their meetings and it drew nary a reaction so he dropped the desperate assistant stereotype he had conjured. The more he met with both of them he realised that Rose was an idiot and without Oleana he would have been lost. She managed most of his companies and her knowledge of their current research queries was above reproach. He couldn’t comprehend how someone so accomplished would be so loyal to someone like Rose. It appeared as though both Oleana and Opal saw something in Rose that Victor failed to. To Oleana, he was worth following steadfastly. To Opal, he was an untrustworthy snake in the grass. Victor saw brief flashes of these qualities in the chairman but not to the extent that he was worth Victor’s loyalty or even as a possible threat. To Victor, he was a narcissist with a hero complex; acting as though every problem in the region was down to him solve.</p>
<p>Victor had met Rose two years prior to being endorsed for the gym challenge. The chairman had come to their school encouraging his class to participate when they were old enough. He hadn’t realised Rose had taken a liking to him when they’d first met, he assumed the chairman tried to butter up everyone he encountered as it certainly wouldn’t hurt a man in his position to do so. Yet when they met again at the start of the gym challenge, Rose had remembered him and was even more impressed when Victor corrected the chairman’s preconceptions about a business partner they had had a brief encounter with.</p>
<p>
  <em>Chairman Rose smiled as the man left the building. He glanced to Oleana, studiously updating notes on her Rotom phone.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“It’s always such a pleasure running into James. Make sure we make the appropriate adjustments he recommended Oleana, it can only benefit the prosperity of Galar as a whole. Schedule a follow up meeting for him with the board, I’d love to hear from him again.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Of course, sir.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Seriously?” Victor regretted the word as soon as it had left his mouth. He had watched the interaction from his spot leaning against a pillar of the stadium. He’d found that this James character was odious from the start and the more he talked the more unpleasant he became. His attitude was nice, sure, and he spoke politely but behind that it was obvious he was a viper. Victor assumed the chairman was simply playing along but apparently that wasn’t so if that was his reaction to the encounter.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Rose whipped around to spot who had spoken up. A white haired boy had stepped towards him, a Gastly hovering around his legs. He lit up as he recognised the boy. “Victor, correct? You’re one of the trainers endorsed by our champion. I remember visiting your school a few years ago, you left quite the impression.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“I’m pleased you remembered, I don’t remember doing anything noteworthy.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Ah, it is simply the way you carried yourself. I take note of these things in my line of work.” Victor knew when someone was lying. People had obvious tells usually. The chairman’s being that his lips curled slightly higher from cheerfully annoying to perfectly punchable.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“I’m sorry for my outburst Mr Rose but are you actually going to listen to that guy?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Please just call me Rose. James is an old friend and he has some wonderful ideas for how to take both our companies further, do you believe his proposition isn’t a solid one?” The chairman didn’t seem to take insult on his supposed friend’s behalf, in fact his enduring smile remained in place. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“I wouldn’t really know how to question his business strategies. They’re definitely well thought out and the man seems to know what he’s talking about. But he was lying to you and he definitely doesn’t respect you. I’d say by following his advice you’d be doing more harm than good to your own company. I don’t usually bother listening to people who are so clearly lying to me.” </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Admittedly, Victor realised he had said too much. A part of him liked showing off to a man with this much power in the region whilst another part simply couldn’t believe that said man had been deceived so easily by a charming smile. This would not bode well for the rest of the gym challenge if he made an enemy off the chairman. Before he could continue and apologise the chairman simply held up a finger to stop him.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Oleana.” He paused with a brow furrowed, clearly considering something deeply. “Would you please cancel the rest of my appointments today? I doubt any of them held that much importance. I’d like to continue this conversation with our young friend. Oh, and scratch what I said about James. Ensure his attempts at negotiation are undermined consistently.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Rose turned back to Victor and gestured towards the door before beginning his departure. Victor followed along at his side.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Tell me Victor. If given the chance to save the Galar region from disaster, would you take it?”</em>
</p>
<p>Victor followed Oleana as she stepped out of the elevator and made her way to one of the hotel’s conference rooms. Rose sat inside, commentary from a Pokémon battle blared from the screen of his laptop.</p>
<p>“Sir,” Oleana interrupted, and the chairman perked up from his slouched position over the screen. “Victor is here to see you.”</p>
<p>“Ah Victor!” Rose jumped from his seat and pulled out the chair closest to him at the conference table. “Come sit, we have much to catch up on I’m sure!”</p>
<p>Oleana walked along the room and stood as close to attention as possible behind Rose. Victor pulled out the chair closest to him and sat down, ignoring the chair that Rose was clearly intending for him.</p>
<p>“Wherever’s most comfortable. Now tell me, how goes your research in the field? Any trainers on par with our champion? How goes your research into Eternatus’ typings? Any new fluctuations of dynamax energy been reported?”</p>
<p>Victor paused to appear as though he was thinking earnestly about how to respond. In truth, he’d already prepared answers to these in advance of the meeting but after his run in with Opal downstairs he didn’t trust his notion of being too open with Rose. He knew that Rose trusted him to a certain degree, not as much as Oleana who seemed to have his complete faith but more than most others in his company. There were few who were privy to the inner workings of the Eternatus project, and he was one of them after all.</p>
<p>“Not much has changed on the trainer front I’m afraid. My sister is the only one who far exceeds my own abilities and will probably be the one to face off against Leon in the final.” He had been planning to mention Marnie and Hop at today’s meeting. Both had improved greatly since he’d last met with Rose but after Opal’s warning he couldn’t bring either of them into this. “The typings are more interesting than I thought. Dragon has always been regarded as a difficult type to master, dragons are unyielding and boastful, not to mention powerful. Eternatus being a dragon type isn’t promising for us being able to control it. The poison type is what I’m truly worried about though. Poison is deceitful and sneaky. Those of the poison type are unpredictable and difficult to read. Combining the two makes for an opponent I wouldn’t trust the champion alone to face.”</p>
<p>Victor paused to allow for a response from Rose. He looked uncharacteristically thoughtful as he perched his head upon both hands.</p>
<p>“I was worried you’d come to such a conclusion. Do you believe your sister would be able to aid in controlling it? Raihan is the second strongest trainer in the region but I do not trust such a task to him despite his proclivities for the dragon type.” The subtext here was obvious. Somebody unable to properly challenge Leon wouldn’t be useful to Rose.</p>
<p>“I would trust my sister to beat anyone but I’ll hold out on a conclusive judgement until she beats Raihan. I’d prefer that she not be involved in the project, only if something goes wrong should we call upon her.”</p>
<p>“Of course. Even using the champion is a last resort, we do not wish to awaken Eternatus after all.” Rose didn’t shift at all during this conversation, but something seemed off. Victor didn’t trust his own judgements after his confrontation with Opal but Rose definitely seemed different after considering her words. Were her own notions about Rose influencing him? Or had she simply allowed him to see what was previously clouded?</p>
<p>“As you know there have been rare occasions of Pokémon randomly dynamaxing and at certain spots around the region, I have noticed higher than average dynamax readings. I assume Oleana will tell you something similar.”</p>
<p>Rose glanced sideways to his assistant, to which she simply nodded. He relaxed into his chair and stretched his arms behind his head.</p>
<p>“Quite the significant update then. You didn’t vouch for your sister this strongly previously, has your rivalry increased?”</p>
<p>“You’re terrible at being subtle as usual.” Victor scoffed. “I can’t beat her, which is what you’re getting at.”</p>
<p>“Well, I didn’t wish to offend. How goes your gym challenge? I heard you got your sixth badge before this.”</p>
<p>“It’s fine. Although its hardly as important as the investigations you assigned me to.”</p>
<p>“Made any interesting rivals in your journey? I know you and Hop have always had a strong rivalry.”</p>
<p>“I don’t recall mentioning it.” Victor felt the tension grow inside the room. Rose was clearly fishing for something, something he believed Victor wouldn’t offer up as part of the usual report. “Are these questions relevant to my job?”</p>
<p>“Of course not!” Rose laughed as though that explained why he was asking them. “I am simply worried that you are not fully immersing yourself in the gym challenge! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity after all. You make friends for life along the way. Any update on that front?”</p>
<p>Rose had gone down this line of questioning before in their meetings. Victor previously assumed he was trying to bond with a possible protégé but something felt different after Opal’s warning. The chairman had done this every time without fail at the end of their meetings. What was Victor missing? They were simple questions, if not leaning toward the personal. They were questions Victor would ask people at school when he tried to find out their motivations and goals. It usually wasn’t the answer that was important but the reaction as a whole. It’d told him who was worth watching. The thought made him suddenly feel cold. These questions were a test at the end of every meeting. A test of Victor’s trustworthiness and clearly he had failed each time. Rose was hiding something and Victor didn’t need to know.</p>
<p>
  <em>“Don’t immerse yourself in a world a child need not be a part of.”</em>
</p>
<p>As he considered this, he thought of black hair and impossibly beautiful pale skin. He saw her strained yet charming smile in his mind’s eye. Would telling Rose about her mean he’d pass the test?</p>
<p>
  <em>“You should call your friends. Live life only the way a child can. Enjoy it.”</em>
</p>
<p>He suddenly found the prospect of allowing Rose to delve into his personal life a chilling one. He chastised himself for not recognising Rose as a snake the way Opal had. To Rose he was a pawn. What need did he have for bonding with a pawn? There was something amiss here. Something Rose was distracting Victor from and keeping him in the dark. He felt it since he’d arrived at the hotel. A certain unbearable tension in the air. Opal had felt it too and warned him before his meeting with Rose. Rose was planning something. It was obvious now. Victor had been fooled by the mask of a clown. Rose was no clown. He couldn’t be in his position, but he wore the mask well. Victor had overestimated himself yet again. He flitted between Olenna’s stoic façade and Rose’s waiting smile. That smile was no longer the cheerful one he was used to. It promised something sinister lurking behind it. What was he missing here? What was Rose’s game?</p>
<p>“I don’t need anymore friends. I have more important things to focus on. We’re saving the Galar region right?” Victor tried to keep his tone light and subtle. He tried to maintain an air of nonchalance amid the unbearable tension. His voice cracked as the question escaped his lips.</p>
<p>“Of course we are!” Rose responded with a lie. Had anything he had ever said ever been the truth? “The energy crisis we are facing is nothing like I’ve ever seen before and your research in the field has been invaluable.”</p>
<p>“Chairman Rose, you have another meeting scheduled in ten minutes.” Oleana interrupted, bending down to mention into his ear. Clearly Victor had failed the test again.</p>
<p>“Apologies Victor, I really wanted to hear about your gym challenge experience. Maybe next time. Keep looking into those typings. Oleana will send you more data on Eternatus when she has it so narrow down its weaknesses for me. If we don’t know how to keep it under control then that energy crisis may be upon us quicker than we know.”</p>
<p>Rose flitted out of the room, followed by Oleana who bowed before exiting. Victor felt himself deflate. He’d always considered himself a step ahead of the curve but at the moment he was lost. Marnie had forced him into an identity crisis with her truth bombs on the night of her birthday. Opal had made him question the path he had chosen. Now he realised that he and Rose did not share the same goal. Why would he need a way to control Eternatus? The dragon remained asleep in a freakishly large test tube, it was already under control.</p>
<p>Victor slumped forward, slamming his forehead into the table and grunting in pain.</p>
<p>
  <em>“If you’re pretending to be so many things, how do you know which one is you? How do you know what that person wants to do, or be, or believe in?”</em>
</p>
<p>What was he doing here? Meeting with CEOs and investigating legendary dragons was clearly not something he should be doing. What even should he be doing? He pulled out his phone and dialled. The person on the other end answered immediately.</p>
<p>“Hey dumbass! I was wondering when this call was coming. Gonna cry to me about how you messed up with Marn, huh?”</p>
<p>Victor only sighed as the Rotom hovered by his ear.</p>
<p>“Hey Vic, you good?”</p>
<p>“I dunno Glory. I think I’m in over my head.”</p>
<p>“Obviously,” Gloria paused on the other end of the call. Victor wondered if she was going to continue before she let out a breath. “You’re always in over your head ‘cause you think you can handle anything when you really, really can’t. Look I don’t want to have this conversation over the phone ‘cause you clearly need your amazing sister to cheer you up in person and I can’t smack some sense into you over the phone. I’m in Circhester getting some pizza, are you around?”</p>
<p>“Yeah I’m at the Hotel Ionia.”</p>
<p>“Okay well come meet me at the restaurant and you can explain what’s got you down and explain what in Arceus you’re doing at a hotel that fancy. I’m assuming it’s trouble cos you’re an idiot and if I let you or Hop out of my sight for five minutes that’s what happens. So, you gonna come get pizza?”</p>
<p>“Yeah.”</p>
<p>“Good. Hurry up so I can smack you.”</p>
<p>She hung up and Victor felt a laugh leave him. He stood up to leave and felt lighter than he had before.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I promise I'll update this sooner next time and thank you to people who are still reading this. I really appreciate the comments and kudos I've gotten so far. If I don't update it by Sunday next week, feel free to comment and tell me to get my butt into gear cos I do really want to write this I'm just terrible at scheduling.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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